Rockies’ new spring digs inspire awe

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — I’m typing this from the press box at Salt River Fields at
Talking Stick, the Rockies’ new $130-million state-of-the-art spring-training complex. Except that I’m not. I was supposed to, but somebody forgot to install the wireless Internet.

Trust me, that’s the only stone that’s unturned around this place. Talk about attention to detail. The weights in the weight room have the Rockies’ logo on them. The wood on the walls of the clubhouse and the executive offices is from trees in Colorado that succumbed to beetle kill. If the light is just right, the wood has a — what else? — purple hue to it.

The players are wandering in by the hour — the first official work isn’t until Tuesday afternoon — and to a man, they’re blown away by the vaste expanse and sheer elegance of the place.

“It’s amazing,” said pitcher Felipe Paulino. “I told some of the guys, “I think we’re going to need a map.’ You go to the lunch room and you don’t know where you’re going and you end up in the trainer’s room.”

The new digs won’t just house everyone in the Rockies’ organization. Paulino believes the complex will have a positive psychological impact on the players.

“It makes you work harder because you feel good about being here,” he said. “They’re like, “OK, we’ve given you good things,’ so you have to pay them back for that and give your all 100 percent of the time.”

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.